Is Imran Khan alive or dead? Jail authorities break silence on health rumors

ISLAMABAD: Is former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan alive or dead? Not only Pakistanis but the whole world is trying to find the right answer to this question. Protests broke out the other day following the propaganda that Imran, who was in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, was killed in prison by Army Chief Asim Munir and Pakistan's spy agency ISI. Although the riots spread across the country, neither the government nor the prison authorities gave any confirmation regarding the news. Finally, the prison authorities have given confirmation in this regard.

The prison authorities said Imran stays healthy. Geo News reported that the medical team is constantly monitoring his health and that the prison authorities have stated that he is completely healthy. The report says the propaganda that he is dead is totally baseless. Meanwhile, Imran's sister Aleema Khan, who is protesting outside the prison, has been allowed to meet him. Aleema herself informed this. She has also informed that she will end her protest after getting permission.

This is not the first time that Imran has been reported dead. Rumors had circulated that he had died in May. A letter on the letterhead of the Pakistani Interior Ministry claiming that Imran had died in judicial custody and that an investigation was underway had gone viral on social media. It was later revealed to be fake. Such news had surfaced several times since then. However, the death report, which was circulated yesterday under the name of the Balochistan Foreign Ministry, also included a picture purportedly of Khan lying on a stretcher. This is what led to the news being believed to be true and the protests breaking out.

Khan, 73, has been in prison since 2023 after being sentenced to 14 years in prison in a corruption case. Imran, who is also the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been suffering from several illnesses, according to his relatives and party workers.